What is the difference between full and partial range of motion?

Full range of motion means performing the entire movement that is part of the exercise – not necessarily moving the joint as far as anatomically possible. With partial repetitions you limit the range of motion, for example by training only the lower or only the upper half of a squat.

What did the calf raise study find?

Forty-two young women trained calf raises on a leg press for eight weeks using either full range of motion, the bottom half only or the top half only. The bottom-half group increased the inner part of the gastrocnemius by 15.2%, against 6.7% for full range of motion and 3.4% for the top half.

Why is mechanical tension important for muscle growth?

Mechanical tension in the muscle fibres is a central factor for growth. It is influenced by how much force the muscles develop and how elongated the fibres are – force production depends on how actin and myosin overlap, while elastic proteins such as titin add tension when the fibres are elongated.

Do partial biceps curls with an almost straight elbow work?

Not necessarily with dumbbells. In a dumbbell curl the torque around the elbow is greatest when the forearm is roughly horizontal, and much smaller when the arm hangs straight down, so the stretched position is not heavily loaded. In a cable curl, the angle of the cable can make the biceps develop significant force even with the elbow almost straight.

Full or Partial Range of Motion – What Builds More Muscle? | Hardworkout Magazine

Key takeaways

- Partial repetitions performed in the part of the movement where the muscle is most elongated generally produce more muscle growth than partial repetitions in a shortened position, according to a 2023 systematic review of eleven studies.

- In an eight-week study of 42 young women doing calf raises on a leg press, the bottom-half group gained 15.2% in the inner gastrocnemius, against 6.7% for full range of motion and 3.4% for the top half.

- Full range of motion does not mean moving the joint as far as it anatomically can, but completing the entire movement path that belongs to the exercise.

- Mechanical tension depends on both how much force the muscle develops and how elongated its fibres are, with titin adding tension at longer muscle lengths.

- A partial repetition at long muscle length is only effective if the exercise's biomechanics load the muscle there, which is why a cable curl and a dumbbell curl differ with an almost straight elbow.

When you train strength, you can use full range of motion or perform partial repetitions. How deep you go in a squat affects how much the thigh muscles are stretched. The same applies to how far you lower your heels in a calf raise.

Does a greater range of motion always build more muscle?

But does a greater range of motion always mean better muscle growth? Or can partial repetitions yield equally good results?

Full and Partial Range of Motion

Range of motion, or range of motion (ROM), describes how far a joint moves from one position to another.

In strength training, we distinguish between full and partial range of motion, depending on how much of the exercise's movement path is utilized.

Full range of motion does not necessarily mean that the joint is moved as far as anatomically possible, but that you perform the entire movement that is part of the exercise.

With partial repetitions, you limit the range of motion by performing the exercise without going through the entire movement path. In squats, for example, you can train from the bottom position until you have risen halfway up, or just perform the upper half of the squat.

This is a significant difference. In the lower part of the squat, several of the muscles on the front of the thighs are more elongated than when you are almost upright.

Two variations with the same range of motion can therefore provide the muscles with different conditions for developing strength.

Why does muscle length affect how much force you produce?

Mechanical tension in muscle fibers is a central factor for muscle growth. The tension is influenced, among other things, by how much force the muscles develop and how elongated the muscle fibers are.

When the muscle develops force, it occurs through the interaction between the proteins actin and myosin. The amount of force that can be produced depends, among other things, on how these proteins overlap. At the same time, elastic proteins such as titin contribute to increased tension when the muscle fibers are elongated.

This may be one of the explanations for why training with the muscles in a more elongated position can stimulate muscle growth particularly effectively.

A [systematic review from 2023](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36662126/) that included eleven studies found that partial repetitions in the part of the movement where the muscles were most elongated generally resulted in better muscle growth than partial repetitions where the muscles were more shortened.

This means that partial repetitions can yield different muscle growth depending on whether you are training the lower or upper part of an exercise.

Do partial repetitions build more calf muscle than full range of motion?

A study of calf raises shows that it may be beneficial to limit the range of motion to the part of the exercise where the calf muscles are most elongated.

In a [2023 study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37015016/), 42 young women trained calf raises on a leg press for eight weeks. The participants trained either with a full range of motion, only the bottom half, or only the top half.

![leg press](https://hardworkout.no/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/45DegreeLegPressCalfRaises-mid.jpg)

Those who trained the bottom half, from a lowered heel to the foot being approximately horizontal, experienced a 15.2% increase in the size of the inner part of the gastrocnemius, compared to 6.7% in those who trained the full movement and 3.4% in those who only trained the top half.

Thus, the participants achieved greater growth in this part of the calf muscle by omitting the top half of the calf raise, even though the group with full range of motion also trained with the heel lowered.

The Biomechanics of the Exercise Matters

How much mechanical tension the muscles are subjected to during partial repetitions depends on how the resistance is distributed throughout the exercise.

Why do dumbbells and cables give different results in a biceps curl?

In a dumbbell bicep curl, the torque around the elbow is greatest when the forearm is approximately horizontal. At that point, the distance between the elbow joint and the line of action of gravity is greatest, and the biceps must generate more force to lift the weight.

When the arm hangs straight down, the biceps are more elongated, but the torque around the elbow is significantly less. Therefore, partial repetitions with an almost straight elbow in a standard dumbbell bicep curl do not necessarily involve high mechanical tension when the muscle is most elongated.

In a cable curl, the angle of the cable can cause the biceps to develop significant force even when the elbow is almost straight. Thus, partial repetitions with an almost straight elbow may provide different conditions for muscle growth compared to similar repetitions with dumbbells.

![Bicepscurl Bevegelsesbane Styrketrening](https://hardworkout.no/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Delvis-bicepscurl-i-moderne-treningsstudio.png)

Sources:

Greater Gastrocnemius Muscle Hypertrophy After Partial Range of Motion Training Performed at Long Muscle Lengths – [National Library of Medicine (NIH)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37015016/)

Which ROMs Lead to Rome? A Systematic Review of the Effects of Range of Motion on Muscle Hypertrophy – [National Library of Medicine (NIH)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36662126/)